Of Unicorns and Werewolves
by Someone Who Isn't Me
Summary: Aurora Jenkins had always known that her mum was quite mad. How could she not, when her mother wore insanity like a favorite cloak? Next Generation, Original Characters.
1. Prologue

This story started out as a random idea I had. I wrote this first chapter in the middle of the night because the plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone. I just got this image of an imaginary woman's life story in the HP universe, and had the idea of showing it through the eyes of her daughter. This is a prologue, but if I write another chapter there will be some actual plot to it. Also, the odd title will be explained.

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><p>Aurora Jenkins had always known that her mum was quite mad. How could she not, when her mother wore insanity like a favorite cloak?<p>

_Controversially brilliant_, the journals called her._ Veronica Jenkins walks the tightrope between magic and science._

When Aurora was smaller and had only just learned to read, she was fascinated by every article that bore her mum's name. She couldn't understand a thing, of course, about the ethics of using unicorn blood or the transfer of life-force from one person to another. It was just the sight of the byline and the awe it invoked. She thought her mother was famous, known to the world, so it came as a shock when Veronica explained that she was invisible outside a small community of readers. It seemed that few people were interested in what she did for a living.

"Famous is like Harry Potter," Mother had told her. "I went to school with him, you know. "

If Aurora had heard that now, she would have sighed and shaken her head in disbelief. Mum always seemed to be sort of confused about when she had gone to Hogwarts.

"I was there with Voldemort," she used to say, back when she told Aurora strange things because she thought the girl would forget them. "I kissed him and he taught me how to make the greatest mistake of my life." Whenever Aurora heard that, she would ask what the mistake had been. Even then, her mum had never told her. Still, Mother was remarkably open with the girl until she turned eight or so.

Aurora would never forget the night when, at the age of six, she woke up to the sound of voices. This was a rarity in her house, considering that it was in the middle of a thick forest and no one ever visited. She crept down the staircase and hid herself in a corner, watching and listening. Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, talking to a young woman with a pretty face and long dark hair. The two women looked very different, but to the natural intuition of a child they somehow felt the same. The stranger was oddly transparent, as if she wasn't all there. But she wasn't silver like the pictures of ghosts Aurora had seen in storybooks.

Craning her neck sideways so she could see better, Aurora noticed that her mother was wearing her black bracelet. The one with the curved, sharp-tipped beads that looked like fangs. The one that she constantly cast spells on and hid in odd places around the house. The other woman was staring at it like she wanted to grab it but didn't dare to. Or maybe her eyes were actually focused on Mum's wand.

"Is there any way-" she began.

"No." Mother spoke sharply and stood up, pointing the wand at the other's face. From her new viewpoint, she noticed Aurora's hiding place. She lowered the wand and came toward the girl. For one wild moment, Aurora considered running to her room and trying to shut herself inside. Mother's anger was fierce and unpredictable, and she had probably earned it.

But instead of yelling or hexing the girl, Mother's face broke into a smile. "Hey, Evanna!" she called out. "Come and meet the child I was telling you about."

Aurora just stood there, nervous and confused. Mum had called the other woman Evanna… But that was what she said her own name had been, before she changed it to Veronica. How strange…

After a few seconds, the young woman came out of the kitchen. Aurora was kind of creeped out when she saw her up close. There was the semi-transparency, for one. And the weird way she looked at Aurora.

"She looks like you," the stranger drawled, sounding as if the resemblance wasn't a good thing. "Tell me, what was the point of having a child? It's not like you can pass on some sort of bloodline."

Mother stepped in front of Aurora as if to protect her. "First of all, don't take that tone with me. Remember, I can send you back whenever I please." She seamlessly switched topics to answer the other woman's question. "And anyway, it's not like I meant to get pregnant. But I kept Aurora, and I actually do like her. Consider it an experiment of sorts."

Both women paused to watch Aurora as tears welled up in her eyes. "Sorry, honey," said her mother. "But haven't I already told you that I'm incapable of love?"

Aurora didn't understand some of the words her mother was using, but the message was clear; she was liked. Not loved, not adored, but liked. 'Like' was a word reserved for snacks and toys, not children. She gulped, trying not to actually cry, but couldn't control herself. The girl wiped her eyes with a pajama sleeve and ran back up to her room, slamming the door. She lay down sideways across her bed and somehow, eventually, fell asleep.

When she came back downstairs the next morning, their visitor was gone.


	2. Of Unicorns and Werewolves

By the time Aurora was ten years old, she had seen and done a number of strange things. She'd played in the forest near her house and picked poisonous herbs and even been sent to run errands in Knockturn Alley. That last thing wasn't quite as bad as it sounded: Her mother had cast a Burning Ward on her before sending her out by Floo powder. It had been funny to watch all those evil-looking wizards try to touch her, only to draw back clutching their blistered hands.

No matter what kind of trouble Aurora got into, she rarely came out worse for wear. At least, that was before she met the werewolf.

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><p><p>

She had either lost her common sense or simply inherited none from her mother. So it seemed perfectly natural for her to go into the woods one afternoon without telling Mum or checking the lunar calendar in the kitchen. Aurora knew that a man from a nearby village was a werewolf, but her mind didn't connect that fact to the full moon that would rise that night. She simply skipped out the back door while her mother was working upstairs.

It was a windy day outside, and Aurora's dirty-blond curls bounced in the breeze. Humming to herself, she found the little box that she often took on her adventures. It contained a small shovel, a book on plants and creatures, and a magical bucket that expanded to fit whatever was put into it.

Aurora liked to catch small creatures in the forest. She could search for them for hours, parting leaves and digging through the soft soil. Sometimes she found only the usual collection of insects and spiders, but she had occasionally managed to capture pixies and gnomes. Mother always let her keep such creatures; as long as Aurora fed them and made sure they didn't destroy the house.

Sometimes the girl would return from an adventure, only to find her pets dead, or gone, or suffering from the effects of some bizarre experiment. Aurora had quickly learned not to go exploring while she was taking care of something she wanted to keep. But on that particular day, she had nothing. Her salamander escaped the box she'd put it in, and the latest gnome had met a rather sticky end.

Aurora set off into the forest, scanning the trees for movement. There was nothing but the rustling of leaves and the movement of foliage above her head. The late-afternoon sun slanted off the tree trunks, casting golden shadows on the ground.

She walked deeper and deeper into the trees, the bucket bumping against her knee. The shadows grew longer and darker, but she never thought about turning back. Mother might be angry with her when she came home, assuming that she even noticed Aurora was gone. But Aurora didn't care. She wasn't going to leave the forest until she found a pet that could survive living in the same house with her mum.

After another long while, Aurora heard the sound of something large moving through the undergrowth. She tensed, expecting something dangerous, but relaxed slightly when she heard hoofbeats. Maybe it was just a pony someone had lost…

Aurora gasped in surprise and adoration as a baby unicorn came into view. Its head was at the level of her shoulder, and its skin was the color of pure gold. Despite her strange childhood, Aurora was still a little girl. And all self-respecting girls couldn't help but love unicorns.

"Hi..." she breathed, stretching out a hand toward what must have been the cutest thing she had ever seen. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The unicorn whinnied and took a cautious step closer.

"Come here, that's it…"Aurora cajoled.

The unicorn came near enough for her to touch it. She touched a finger to the side of its neck, and it didn't even flinch. Aurora began to pet it like she would a cat, stroking the forehead around its ivory horn. She remembered reading something about unicorns being attracted to young maidens. Aurora was flattered that the little unicorn considered her to be one, and showed her appreciation by scratching behind its ears.

"Are you a girl or a boy?" she asked, wondering if it would understand human speech.

The unicorn nickered quietly and stamped a front hoof, but Aurora had no idea what that meant. She picked up her bucket and opened the book inside it, but could find nothing about unicorns actually having a language.

Looking up, Aurora saw that the unicorn was still there. Its coat no longer shone quite so brightly because the sun had gone below the horizon, but it was still beautiful.

"I guess you're a mystery, then," said Aurora. "Come on, let's go to my house."

She led the way, pleasantly surprised that Mystery –temporarily named, of course, until Aurora could find out her gender - was actually following her. The little unicorn seemed nervous, turning its head from side to side and being spooked by every little noise. The attitude must have been infectious, because after a few minutes Aurora was just as spooked as the unicorn. She knew how to get home, of course, but it was getting dark and they still had a long way to go.

Aurora shivered when she heard a distant howl ring through the forest. Mystery's ears twitched in its direction.

"Come on," urged Aurora, suddenly realizing that a full moon was rising above the treetops. "We have to get out of here!" she whispered, more to herself than the unicorn.

She broke into a nervous jog, and Mystery sped up as well. Another howl sounded, closer this time. She was actually running now, tree trunks blurring together as the baby unicorn galloped beside her. The situation still didn't quite seem real. She was sure she would get out of this. She would arrive at her house and laugh at herself for being scared of the dark. She would –

Aurora's foot caught on a tree root, and she fell flat on her face. She gasped at the shock and pain of it, saying a word she'd heard her mum use when she was in a bad mood. She got to her feet, holding onto Mystery's mane for support. The unicorn was such a perfect pet; cute, and helpful, and loyal… Aurora would need to give her some kind of treat when they got home.

Shaking herself off, Aurora started running again. This time, she had the awful feeling that the beast was right behind her. She panted and gasped for breath, trying to run faster but only slowing down from exhaustion. The werewolf was definitely there, and it was after her. Aurora could hear it crashing through the undergrowth behind her, and she sensed that she was in real danger.

It was the worst nightmare of every child; to be chased by a monster while unable to escape or even lift her feet. The wolf was gaining on her now. It was right behind her, growling promises of violence. Aurora desperately wanted to look over her shoulder to see how much distance was left between her and the beast, but she was terrified of stopping even for the second it took to check.

The terror of being hunted was too much for the little unicorn that ran beside her. With a last desperate look at the girl, Mystery pulled ahead and galloped off with the speed she had been holding back. _No!_ thought Aurora. _Don't leave me!_

After that there was just the thunder of Aurora's heart and the stitch in her side and the hot breath of the beast on her neck. Just a few seconds after the unicorn deserted her, a heavy paw caught Aurora around the ankle and dragged her to the ground. She stumbled and fell, then rolled over onto her back to stare at the beast that towered over her.

For the first time, she got a good look at the werewolf. It was huge and gray-furred, hunched over on two back paws instead of standing on all fours. The jaws were long and wide and slavering between inch-long fangs.

Aurora lost all inhibition and let loose a hysterical scream. It echoed through the forest, but she knew that anyone who heard it would never be able to get there in time.

The werewolf advanced on her, snarling. Aurora scooted backward like a crab, but the wolf's teeth clamped down on her left foot. She screamed again, in pain this time, desperately trying to tear herself loose. It was no use; every move she made only increased the crushing agony.

The wolf let go of her foot, but only to switch its grip to her throat. For a moment, Aurora's tearful blue eyes met its yellow gaze. There was nothing human there, nothing that took pity on her when she squeaked, "Please…"

And then the wolf bit down again.


	3. Awakening

She woke. After what the werewolf had done to her, that was amazing in and of itself. For a while, Aurora just lay there, wherever there was. She knew she wasn't in bed, or outside, because the surface against her back was smooth and hard. Her neck and ankle didn't hurt, even though she knew the wolf had bitten her in both places. She had an awful headache, though, bad enough to make her skull pulse with each heartbeat.

After a period of time that could have been a minute or an hour, Aurora opened her eyes. She blinked a few times in the morning light, trying to take in the strange image that greeted her. She was lying on the kitchen table, head tilted back and limbs splayed out like a doll's. Moving into a slightly more comfortable position, Aurora wondered how she could have spent a whole night like that.

Looking down at herself out of the corner of her eye, Aurora saw that she was wearing the same clothes she'd taken into the forest. Her Muggle jeans were ripped in a dozen places, and the T-shirt was stained with blood. No, not stained. Literally covered with a dry reddish crust, especially around the collar.

Aurora tore her eyes away from her own body, afraid to see any more. Glancing around the room, she noticed her mother sitting – rather limply, with her head falling to the side – in a chair farther down the table. Her eyes were closed, and she looked to be unconscious or asleep.

"Mum?" Aurora's lips moved, but no sound came out. She tried again and managed a faint croak, wincing at the twinge of pain that ran down her throat.

Her mother must have heard, because her head snapped up and she jerked to attention. "Herpo's H-" she swore, but cut herself off when she saw Aurora looking up at her. "Oh," she said softly, as if astonished. "You're still alive." Picking up Aurora's right hand, she felt for a pulse at the wrist.

Aurora, meanwhile, was staring in horror at her own arm. Instead of its usual lightly tanned color, the skin from her fingertips to her shoulder was gray. It wasn't a dull, crayon gray, but the color was definitely there.

She pulled her hand from her mum's grip, turning it over this way and that. Her mouth opened in a silent moan of fear and bewilderment. Was she dead? An Inferius? Something reanimated under her mother's control?

Mum's face had reverted to its usual expressionless mask. She pressed her hands down onto Aurora's shoulders, as if she was afraid the girl would try to run away. Aurora noticed that the fingers were stained with red and silver, blood and some unknown substance. The sight of it sent shivers running up her spine.

"Shh…" Mum whispered, soothing ineffectually. "I know it's a shock, but try not to move."

Aurora strained forward anyway, but stopped when she realized that only a dishtowel was covering what must have been an awful bite on her neck.

"You're not dead or an Inferius," Mum said hurriedly, as if she was reading the girl's mind. "Now relax. I need to put a proper bandage on that."

Aurora dug her fingernails into the hand that had begun to pull away from her own.

"What happened?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.

Instead of answering Aurora's question, Mum pointed her wand at the girl. "Somnus!" she said.

Aurora's eyelids began to feel heavy, and she knew that she wouldn't be awake much longer. She looked pleadingly up at her mother, but there was no further conversation.

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><p>When Aurora opened her eyes again, she was wearing pajamas in her own bed. The whole thing could have been a bad dream if it wasn't for the pale, grayish tone of her skin and the bandages on her leg and throat.<p>

She lay in bed for a minute, wondering what awful thing her mother didn't want to tell her. She would probably be a werewolf now, because one had bitten her. Yes, that was probably it. Before the attack, Aurora had occasionally wished she was a werewolf. She'd always wondered what it would be like to live in an animal's body, without human thoughts or cares. The wolf's power and ability to intimidate had also seemed pretty attractive.

But now? Tears filled her eyes at the very thought. She didn't want to become an evil, thoughtless beast that ate children in the forest. She didn't want to have to hide away from normal people every full moon. Aurora had always counted on being able to leave her mum's house when she grew up, to go far away to a place with lots of people. To live there, among average witches and wizards, and never come back. How could she do that now?

She had to ask her mother. If there was a spell or potion that could cure her, Mum would be the one to know. Maybe she'd already done it, and that was why Aurora's skin was such a strange color.

Aurora sat up, moving slowly and gingerly. She still wasn't sure how badly hurt she was. It must have been serious, judging by the way her mother acted, but she felt no pain whatsoever. After sitting for a moment, she stood up. She still felt fine, though maybe a little dizzy. She even stretched, twisting sideways like a cat. Nothing.

Pleasantly surprised at the lack of pain, Aurora set off for her mother's office. She could hear the scratching of the Augurey-feather quill before she was even halfway down the long hallway that joined the two rooms. Her mum had told her about that quill, about how she had magicked a natural ink-repelling feather to make it suitable for writing.

Aurora got to the door and opened it without bothering to knock. Her mother was inside, sitting at her desk and writing something important-looking on a roll of parchment. She looked up when Aurora came inside.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine," said Aurora, realizing that she was telling the truth.

Her mother turned back to the parchment and scribbled something down. Aurora was about to ask one of the many questions running through her head, but Mum spoke first. She used the same soft tone that Aurora had heard the night before. Maybe it was her attempt at worry, or affection, or love. "I thought I was going to lose you last night."

Aurora didn't know if she should believe her mum. "Then why am I standing here?" she challenged. "Why didn't you take me to St. Mungo's or something?"

Mum grimaced. "That place? The Healers are ridiculously inept. I was there once in the Forties, and they had no clue what was wrong with me. Not that I wanted them to, of course, but that's beside the point."

There she was, going crazy again… Her mother was probably around 35, so there was no way she could have been anywhere in the Forties. "Mum…" she began. "There's no way-"

Her mother looked irritated for a moment, but then her face softened. "Never mind that. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?"

Aurora hesitated, not knowing where to start. "What happened last night?" she asked finally, not sure she wanted to know the details.

"I was working in the evening," her mother began, "And I realized that you had been gone for an awfully long time. I went into the forest to search, but came across a unicorn foal instead. The creature was keen on leading me somewhere, which was strange. Silly things are usually terrified of me."

_I wonder why… _ Aurora thought sarcastically.

"Anyway, I followed it into the woods until I heard you scream. After that I knew my own way. That damn werewolf was dead before it could turn to look at me!"

A kind of wildness flickered in Mum's eyes when she talked about killing the wolf. It was as if she'd enjoyed it or something.

"And me?" Aurora prompted. "Am I a werewolf now?"

"Yes," Mum sighed. "There was nothing I could do about that."

Aurora's heart dropped down to the pit of her stomach. So it was true, then. So-

"But like I have said far too many times, you're lucky to be alive at all. By the time I had killed the wolf, you'd practically bled to death. It's a good thing that I know the properties of unicorn blood and the necessary spells for a transfusion. The change in skin color is just an unfortunate side effect."

She dove into a complicated explanation about how some kind of red pigment in human blood made skin look pink, and vampires were pale because they didn't have enough of it, and since unicorn blood was silver it tinted Aurora's skin to a pale grey, and…

Aurora quickly lost track of what her mother was saying. She could have understood if she'd been listening, but a horrible thought had just occurred to her.

"Uh, Mum," she began. "Did you have the blood for a potion ingredient or buy it in a shop or something?"

Her mother sighed as if she knew where this line of questioning was going. "There happened to be a unicorn standing beside me."

"You didn't!"

"I did."

Aurora made a small, unintelligible noise. She couldn't believe that her mother could sink to such a low. "Is Myst- I mean, the unicorn, still alive?" she asked.

"No." Mum's voice hardened into steel. "I decided that my own daughter was more important than a creature, magical or not." There was a pause. "Any further questions?"

Aurora felt a surge of anger run through her like lava. She didn't want to hear another word. She didn't want to understand. If she'd been a few years older, she might have been more thankful to the woman who had given and saved her life. Instead, she set Mum's beloved quill on fire.

It wasn't a conscious decision, of course. Just a flash of emotion and a gasp from her mother as she dropped the flaming quill onto her roll of parchment.

Extinguishing it, Mum smiled stiffly in her daughter's direction. It looked painful, like she was raising the corners of her mouth with puppet strings. "Unicorns are very magical creatures, you know. A single tail hair can provide the core of a wand. But a liter of blood…" She trailed off, almost dreamily. "I already knew you would make a good witch, and this will only intensify your powers."

Looking straight into her mother's eyes, Aurora spoke slowly and clearly.

"I am never. Going to talk to you. Again."

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><p>AN: I know this chapter is kinda heavy on dialogue, but I promise something will actually happen in the next one. Please review if you liked it


	4. Amplified Magic

Aurora lasted a week without talking to her mother, communicating only in nods and glares and slammed doors. It was a week longer than most ten-year-old girls would have been able to stand, especially when there was literally no one else to talk to, but she still felt like a failure the first time she grudgingly said, "Good morning."

When she finally spoke, her mother nodded to her across the kitchen table. "I knew you would crack eventually."

Aurora just picked at her magically-scrambled eggs. She didn't especially feel like saying anything else, but it didn't matter. The silence had already been broken.

Three days before the next full moon, Aurora was examining herself in the freestanding mirror that stood in a corner of her room. Her green eyes and reddish-brown curls of hair were the same as they'd always been, but her skin still held a slight tint of gray. She wondered if, were she to cut herself, the blood would sparkle. Probably not, she decided. Silver mixed with red didn't make more of the original silver, but only a dull sort of gray.

Behind her, the door to her bedroom opened with a slight creak. Aurora whirled around in surprise, even though she knew there was only one person it could be.

"Mum? Why can't you just knock?"

Sure enough, the intruder was her mother.

"Be happy it's me and not some kind of axe murderer."

This made Aurora pause for a second. "What's an axe murderer?"

"A kind of criminal unique to Muggles. I lived with Muggles as a child, you know."

"Yeah, Mum. In the nineteen-thirties." Aurora injected a heavy dose of sarcasm into her voice.

Her mother looked faintly troubled, and the expression of worry emphasized the faint wrinkles that had begun to appear around her mouth and eyes. Her long hair was still dark, shot through with only a few strands of silver. Maybe Mum was older than Aurora realized, but there was no way she was old enough to even have _existed_ in the Thirties.

"I didn't know you still remembered that," Mum said stiffly, lips pursed in what looked like disapproval. "What else have I told you?"

"That you knew Voldemort," Aurora said. "And how you went to Hogwarts twice, in Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

Mum seemed to be thinking deeply about something. "Tom…" she muttered. "He was always better at the memory charms."

Aurora took a quick step backwards. Years of living with Mum had given the girl a sharp intuition about her mother's moods. She wished she had a wand so she could cast a nasty spell or at least defend herself.

"A _memory charm_? Why? Please don't mess with my head!" her voice came out high-pitched; nearly hysterical. She knew that she was probably just overreacting, but the idea of a memory charm terrified her. What if the charm was too strong, and she forgot so many things that she became a different person altogether?

Aurora's mother advanced on her, wand out, trying to reason with the girl. "Please, let me just get this over with. You will only forget a few tiny details-"

And then Mum was suddenly airborne, flying backwards across the hall as if a giant had thrown her. Aurora didn't have time to see the look on her face, but it must have been priceless. Then Mum hit the closed door of her office with a sharp cracking sound, and nothing was funny anymore.

Later, after it had gotten dark outside, there was a knock at Aurora's door. The girl flinched, expecting a Ministry official with an arrest warrant, and hesitantly opened the door.

It was Mum, of course. How could she have thought that her mother, of all people, would ever call the Ministry? Aurora looked her over, checking for visible damage, but her mother seemed to be fine. Surprisingly, she didn't even look too angry.

"Sorry," said Aurora, trying to get the obligatory apology out of the way. "I didn't know I could do that, and I definitely wouldn't hurt you on purpose."

The corners of Mum's mouth rose slightly, as if she was trying to smile but didn't remember how. "I was asking for that," she admitted. "I've always been a glutton for punishment. It was an awful idea to threaten a Wizarding child, especially one with amplified magic like yours."

Aurora was annoyed by being called a child, but the "amplified magic" thing interested her enough that she let the insult slide. "What does that mean?" she asked. "Is 'amplified' another word for 'stronger' or something?"

Her mother nodded. "I already expected you to be gifted, even before the werewolf incident, but with the addition of unicorn blood…" A jealous expression crossed her face. "I wonder why everyone doesn't do it."

Aurora, of course, knew perfectly well why people didn't just go around slaughtering unicorns and drinking their blood. It was sick and wrong, not to mention disgusting. Maybe it wasn't quite as bad in a life-or-death situation like her own, but just to become more powerful… Killing a unicorn was something a monster would do. She wondered why Mum had never been able to come to such an obvious conclusion.

"Probably because-"Aurora began, but she was immediately interrupted.

"Why are we even discussing this? I need to get something from Knockturn Alley tonight."

"Do I have to go alone again?" Aurora asked. Even with Mum's Burning Ward and her own amplified magic, she didn't want to go to Knockturn Alley alone. The place gave her the creeps, especially if it was dark.

"Not this time," Mum said. "To buy a Wolfsbane Potion, I'll need to show my own face."


End file.
